Minor Adjustments
by iamnotamuffin
Summary: Things could have gone a lot differently on the meteor. What would have happened if Karkat had never seen Gamzee's terror-inducing message? Or if Tavros had kept Vriska waiting? Equius is soon sent to find and apprehend Eridan, while Tavros is left to deal with an emotionally unstable clown. Everything proceeds to hit the whirling device.
1. Equius and Tavros: Answer

Hi! This fic will be about 2-3 chapters long! i'm not exactly sure when the next one will be out though. the next chapters will have less pesterlogs.

Anyway, this is an au where Karkat sends Equius after Eridan instead of Gamzee. And in turn, Tavros goes after Gamzee instead of Vriska.  
hope you enjoy! Reviews are greatly appreciated!

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 **carcinoGeneticist [CG]** **began trolling** **centaursTesticle [CT]**

 **CG: EQUIUS, ARE YOU THERE?**

 **CT: D - Yes**

 **CG: OK, GOOD**

 **CG: ARE YOU STILL REALLY STRONG?**

 **CG: LIKE, IS THAT STILL YOUR THING?**

 **CT: D - I am still e%ceptionally STRONG**

 **CT: D - Strength continues to be my STRONGEST attribute**

 **CG: OK GOOD.**

 **CG: I GUESS THAT WAS A PRETTY DUMB QUESTION.**

 **CG: I NEED YOUR HELP.**

 **CT: D - With what**

 **CG: ERIDAN IS ON A RAMPAGE**

 **CG: HE'S GOING TO KILL US ALL IF WE DON'T STOP HIM.**

 **CT: D - You mean**

 **CT: D - The seadweller**

 **CG: WHAT?**

 **CG: YEAH, I GUESS**

 **CT: D - Oh dear**

 **CG: WHAT**

 **CT: D - Are you saying the seadweller has finally embraced his natural urge to e%terminate those of land dwelling caste in a way that actually poses a threat**

 **CG: NO I'M SAYING HE FUCKING SNAPPED AND WANTS TO MURDER US ALL**

 **CT: D - Yes e%actly**

 **CG: DAMMIT, WHY DOES THIS CONVERSATION HAVE TO BE SO PREDICTABLY TERRIBLE**

 **CG: ALL I'M ASKING YOU TO DO**

 **CG: NO, ORDERING YOU TO DO**

 **CG: IS GO FIND ERIDAN AND BEAT HIM TO DEATH WITH YOUR BARE HANDS, OR POSSIBLY TWO HALVES OF A BROKEN BOW, BEFORE HE KILLS ANYONE ELSE.**

 **CT: D - I certainly appreciate the debauchery inherent in receiving an order of such gravity from a rogue-b100ded foulmouth**

 **CT: D - But**

 **CT: D - I'm not entirely positive I can raise a hand to the seadweller**

 **CG: WHY THE FUCK NOT.**

 **CG: I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT YOU DON'T LIKE HIM.**

 **CT:** **D - Yes**

 **CT: D - He is a seadweller**

 **CT: D - Our feud is codified in tradition**

 **CT: D - Neigh, we are obligated to be at odds**

 **CT: D - It's dignified**

 **CT: D - But**

 **CT: D - Is it completely necessary to kill him**

 **CG: OH MY GOD**

 **CG: HE JUST MURDERED KANAYA AND FEFERI IN COLD BLOOD AND SOLLUX COULD SLIP INTO A FUCKING COMA ANY SECOND NOW.**

 **CG: I'D SAY IT WOULD BE COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY NECESSARY TO CHOKE HIM WITH HIS OWN PRETENTIOUS DOUCHEBAG SCARF BEFORE HE SENDS MORE PISS WHITE BOLTS OF SCIENCE BULLSHIT THROUGH EVERY SKULL ON THIS METEOR.**

 **CG: IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO IT JUST PASS YOUR NASTY SWEAT SOAKED DUDEBRO SHADES TO NEPETA SO I CAN MAKE HER DO IT.**

 **CT: D - No**

 **CT: D - I will do it, should no other option arise**

 **CT: D - I just**

 **CT: D - Do I really have to**

 **CG: GOD, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM NOW**

 **CT: D - I'd prefer not to interact with him**

 **CG: WHY**

 **CT: D - It's primarily that his advances make me uncomfortable**

 **CG: HAHAHAHAHAHA.**

 **CG: I WOULD HIGH FIVE YOU IF IT WOULDN'T SHATTER EVERY BONE IN MY HAND.**

 **CG: AND IF YOU DIDN'T SMELL TERRIBLE.**

 **CG: BUT SERIOUSLY, IF YOU COULD CARRY OUT MY ORDERS IN THE LEAST PERVERSE WAY POSSIBLE, THAT WOULD BE GREAT.**

 **CG: I NEED YOU TO COME THROUGH FOR ME, BECAUSE WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF MANPOWER HERE.**

 **CT: D - We are**

 **CG: YES. WITH FEFERI AND KANAYA DEAD WE'RE RUNNING PRETTY DAMN LOW. NOT TO MENTION THAT SOLLUX IS KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT, TAVROS IS AS GOOD AS DEAD, AND TEREZI IS MISSING.**

 **CG: OH GOD, I HOPE SHE'S OK, I SHOULD PROBABLY GO LOOK FOR HER.**

 **CG: DID I MENTION THAT VRISKA IS PROBABLY TEARING TAVROS APART AS WE SPEAK.**

 **CT: D - She is**

 **CT: D - How many of us are rampaging murderously, e%actly**

 **CG: I DON'T KNOW, AT LEAST TWO PROBABLY, BUT WHO EVEN KNOWS AT THIS POINT**

 **CG: JUST DO WHAT I SAY, OK.**

 **CT: D - I will 100k into it**

 **carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling** **centaursTesticle [CT]**

Equius sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as the Trollian window minimized out of his computerized shades. Truth be told, he'd been expecting a message of this sort for a few hours now. He had known that excrement was hitting the whirling device lately and that Karkat, as "The Leader", would be in need of his incredible STRENGTH sooner or later. He had just hoped that it wouldn't need to involve killing anyone.

"What did Karkat say, Equius?" Nepeta grinned up at him, poking his arm lightly to take his attention away from his shades.

"How do you know I was even talking to him?" Equius inquired, only slightly feigning an offended tone. He switched off the computer mode on his cracked glasses to see the cat troll's bright yellow eyes staring back at him.

"You always squint your eyes when he starts messaging you. Like this." Nepeta scrunched up her brow, squinting her eyes until they were nearly shut, and putting on a particularly grumpy scowl. That earned a hearty chuckle from her moirail.

"His walls upon walls of abhorrent grey text is a strain on the eyes after a while." Equius mumbled mostly to himself as he settled back down on the large pile of broken robot parts. Nepeta nimbly leapt into the spot next to him, resurfacing with a few stray wires tangled around her horn.

"Well, what did he say? Is he trying to get everyone back togethpurr?"

"According to him, there is hardly an 'everyone' to get back together." Equius replied, "The seadweller has just murdered Feferi and Kanaya, as well as incapacitating Captor."

"You mean mister Ampurra? I thought something _fishy_ was going on with him recently."

"Nepeta, this is serious. Karkat has instructed me to go apprehend him. He's finally embraced his social calling. And this time, with less doomsday devices that do nothing more than kill my lusus." Equius folded his arms over his chest, leaning back into the ruined torso of a brutalized robot.

"I'm still not sure I can believe it!"

"That's because you still refuse to 100k upon our b100dlines as the deciding behooviroal factors they are."

"Uh...behooviroal?"

"Behaviorial. Sorry, my heart is galloping and I canter nunciate properly. The horst case scenario is upon us." Equius quickly summoned one of his captchalogued towels and dabbed gently at his forehead.

"Pfft." Nepeta snorted and untangled the stray wire from her horn, tossing it back into the pile.

"Ampora's bloodline is among the highest, even among seadwellers. As a result, he's prone to being more ruthless and unpredictable than the rest of us."

"Wait, so did Karkitty tell us to actually go out and kill Eridan?" Nepeta scratched her chin thoughtfully, "Beclaws I've been wanting to try out these new claws I alchemized!"

"No, abso100tely not." Equius shot back sternly, "This will be incredibly dangerous and I refuse to allow you to get hurt. You will stay here."

"But the claws have barbs!"

"It is not up for debate." The blueblood's expression fell, "Eridan was able to kill two of our best fighters. If anything were to happen to you…"

"I'm purrfectly capable of taking on Mr. Fishbreath!" Nepeta pouted, folding her arms.

"I am aware. But...Just allow me to access the situation on my own first. Should I require backup...you will be the first troll I contact. Until then, you will hide where we discussed earlier." Equius' expression had become stoic and unreadable again, but Nepeta understood very well.

She nodded in agreement, and after a few more rounds of roleplay to lighten the mood, she bid farewell to her moirail as he shooed him into the paint-covered room they dubbed as her hiding spot. She kept a well tuned ear to the wall as Equius pushed some towers of heavy crates to hide the outline of the steel door. Most trolls knew this room was here already, but they would have a hell of a time moving these boxes without the blueblood's STRENGTH.

Nepeta knew her moirail. And she knew that he wouldn't be calling her for backup, even if Eridan had him beaten into the ground. He worried about her too much to do that.

Which is why she was taking matters into her own paws.

 _oH,,,hOLY SHIT,,,_

They were the only words Tavros could put together in his mind that made an inkling of sense when he transportalized into the room. Which was absolutely _trashed._

The bodies of Kanaya and Feferi were on nearly opposite ends of the room, yet their blood splatters collided in several places. Even ignoring the corpses and vast amounts of blood, the room was a disaster. Clown horns and robotic parts were scattered everywhere, his Fiduspawn host dolls were all torn apart, several of Nepeta's teapots were shattered, and not to mention the huge scorch mark where Aradiabot must have exploded. As Tavros scanned the wall in stunned silence, he also noticed the large splatter of dull yellow blood next to Karkat's computer. The slightly metallic smell of psionics in the air gave him a hint as to what happened. If Sollux hadn't died from that kind of an impact, Tavros decided that he certainly died from blood loss. But his body was nowhere to be found.

 _Ding._

Out of the corner of his eye, Tavros saw a Trollian window pop up on Karkat's computer, along with the dull ring of a notification sound. He instantly recognized the indigo text color and hurried over to the keyboard.

 **terminallyCapricious [TC] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]**

 **TC: honk.**

 **CG: gAMZEE!**

 **CG: oH, sORRY, wAIT,,,**

 **carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling terminallyCapricious [TC]**

 **adiosToreador began trolling terminallyCapricious [TC]**

 **TC: OH.**

 **TC: hey there, tavbro.**

 **TC: WHAT'S A MOTHERFUCKER LIKE YOU DOING GETTING HIS CHAT ON IN MY BEST FRIEND'S COMPUTER?**

 **TC: :o)**

 **AT: sORRY,**

 **AT: eVERYTHING IS KIND OF, NOT GOOD,**

 **AT: iN THE MAIN ROOM, I MEAN,**

 **AT: aND I SAW YOU MESSAGE KARKAT, aND IT WAS THE CLOSEST COMPUTER, sO I JUST DID THAT,**

 **TC: it's so fucking chill bro, don't worry.**

 **TC: HONK.**

 **AT: uH,,,**

 **AT: aRE YOU FEELING ALRIGHT, gAMZEE?**

 **AT: yOUR TYPING QUIRK, iS KIND OF NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE,**

 **TC: i'm the chillest motherfucker this side of the circus.**

 **TC: AND SO AM MOTHERFUCKING I.**

 **AT: ,,,**

 **AT: wHAT?**

 **TC: i'm just surprised to be chatting up with you.**

 **TC: I WAS EXPECTING MY SWILLBLOODED BEST FRIEND AND ALL.**

 **AT: sWILLBLOODED?**

 **TC: last i heard, you were fixing to fight the spiderbitch.**

 **AT: oH,**

 **AT: wELL, i WAS, bUT I DID SOME FALLING DOWN OF THOSE REALLY TALL STAIRS,**

 **AT: aND MY LEFT KNEE CAP IS LOOSE NOW, sO I CAME TO FIND A SCREWDRIVER,**

 **TC: :o)**

 **AT: aRE YOU SURE YOU'RE OKAY? kANAYA AND FEFERI AND MAYBE SOLLUX ARE DEAD NOW, i THINK, aND YOU COULD BE IN TROUBLE TOO,**

 **AT: yOU SHOULD, GET BACK HERE,**

 **TC: I'M MORE THAN OKAY, MY BROTHER.**

 **TC: i'm finally getting to under motherfucking stand who i was meant to be all along.**

 **TC: FINALLY GETTING TO UNDER MOTHERFUCKING STAND WHO I WAS MOTHERFUCKING MEANT TO BE ALL A MOTHERFUCKING LONG.**

 **AT: tHAT,,, iS KIND OF WORRYING,**

 **AT: gAMZEE, wHERE ARE YOU?**

 **TC: i've been kicking the wicked ignorance on this shit.**

 **TC: BEEN MOTHERFUCKIN SLAUGHTERING THE WICKED IGNORANCE, BRO.**

 **TC: you should come chill with me, tavbro.**

 **TC: DOWN BY THE BIGASS TEST TUBES.**

 **TC: we can talk.**

 **AT: aBOUT, wHAT EXACTLY?**

 **TC: STUFF.**

 **TC: see you soon, brother.**

 **TC: :o)**

 **terminallyCapricious [TC]** **ceased trolling** **adiosToreador**

Tavros leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his mohawk in both confusion and anxiety. Something was obviously wrong with Gamzee, but he just wasn't letting on. Whether Gamzee was suddenly going off his goddamn rocker, or if he was in serious trouble, or a mix of both, Tavros didn't know. But it was obvious now that Vriska was going to have to wait. That confused jumble of Trollian had pushed "Finding Gamzee" to the top of the priority list. The clown troll had been one of his closest friends for more sweeps than he could remember, and never before had Tavros seen him type like THAT. Sure, there were times that Gamzee had tried to wean himself off the sopor pies and gotten a little irritable but he still tried to stay upbeat. This was just pure unfiltered strangeness on top of all the strangeness that had been occurring in the last few hours.

Isolation on this meteor and the fear of death was doing some funny things to everyone's thinkpan, though. He supposed he wouldn't be all that surprised if Gamzee had finally gone off the deep end. He always thought that the clown was unnaturally chill and passive for someone of his blood color. Indigobloods were usually so aggressive and eager to cull. Gamzee was nearly the exact opposite of that. But Tavros had learned to not look a gift hoofbeast in the mouth.

He suddenly remembered what he had come up here to do in the first place and waddled over to Equius' computer, retrieving a screwdriver that had been used to fix a minor error on Aradiabot earlier in the night. After a few quick turns, his knee was as good as new. Luckily his robotic legs had suffered no dents during his fall. Equius sure knew how to build sturdy robots.

Tavros drew his dagger lance and stepped onto the transportalizer. He didn't know what to expect at this point, but he would be ready. He was nervous, maybe a little terrified, but he was ready.


	2. Search

**Ayy sorry for the wait on chapter two! This one is a little short but the next one really gets down to the nitty gritty!**

 **Reviews are greatly appreciated! ;w;**

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 _Honk._

The sound nearly made Equius jump out of his stockings. The blare of Gamzee's horns was no rarity, but while he was shrouded in near total blackness amongst the flickering, grimy machinery of the meteor, the noise came across as eerie and malignant. The blueblood carefully judged his surroundings, not daring to make any sudden movements until his nocturnal eyes were completely adjusted to the darkness. Gamzee shouldn't be this deep in the meteor. He had no reason to be here. Down here was nothing but some hefty test tubes with various dead musclebeasts inside and the room that Nepeta and he had claimed as their "Room for Various Piles and Rolepurrlay". Well, Nepeta had thought of the name.

As he passed the test tubes, he stopped for a moment to admire a particularly horse-like musclebeast. _Ah_ … if only he could perfect his skills in the art of drawing musclebeasts. Most of his posters were from other online artists and he had grown tired of looking at the same musclebeasts over and over again, no matter how magnificent they were.

After some seconds of musing over the glorious creature, Equius suddenly felt an ominous sense of being watched. He was used to the sense of being watched, as Nepeta often spied on him from vents before pouncing onto his back, but this was a much different feeling. The gaze he felt was piercing and unstable. Daring him to search for the source. The highblood crossed his mind again, as well as the honk he heard earlier. A pang of fear suddenly clawed at his chest, and Equius hoped that his shades were dim enough to hide the distress in his eyes.

 _'Eridan is the task at hand. Keep focused.'_ He told himself sternly. Turning away from the test tube, he fixed his eyes onto the end of the hallway, his goal. He knew not to run. No matter how much his primal instincts urged him to, running would make the piercing gaze jump at him. Eyes on the target, Equius paced himself away from the test tubes and away from whatever lurked there.

Atop the musky green container, dull orange eyes behind stained red glasses squinted as they watched him abscond.

Thank goodness he was finally out of that room. The one he was in now was considerably brighter too. Equius halted for a moment to release the breath he had been holding. Now that the dreaded feeling of being watched had left the atmosphere, he could take a moment to collect his thoughts and perhaps fancy up a strategy for facing Eridan.

The room he was in now was more like a stage than anything else. One end of the room contained large machinery and metal boxes stacked up on one another, while the opposite end fell into pitch black nothingness. The cavernous hole most likely led to the core of the meteor, however there were safer ways of getting there than this particular drop.

"…Eq? What the blisterin' fuckall are you doin' here?"

Equius flinched and turned to a nearby tower of metal shipping crates that Eridan had just emerged from. His hair was disheveled, his eyes were rubbed raw, and his entire front was splattered with a mix of jade and fuchsia. The science wand was still in his hand and giving off an apprehensive glow.

"…We should talk." Equius said after a few moments of sizing each other up.

"Like hell we will!" Eridan's stance became broader and more aggressive, "Did Kar send you? God, I bet he fuckin' did. A leader wouldn't wanna let some rogue prince run free after brutally killin' three of his best mates, so he sends the muscle a' the group to take care of it. Not surprisin' at all." The seadweller ran a tense hand through his already ruffled hair, a look of distress and slight desperation momentarily flickering on his face.

"Sollux isn't dead." Equius offered, carefully choosing his words. He didn't have a long range weapon and Eridan was a good twenty feet away from him.

"Oh! Fuckin' perfect! Great! The prick I actually wanted to kill in the first place was able to scrape by. Thanks for givin' me that incredible news, Eq. Feel free to piss off now."

"No, I'm here to apprehend you." Equius said stoically. He was determined to not show any emotion for fear of setting off an already unstable Ampora, "You still killed Kanaya and Feferi, so I'm taking you back to the main room where we can keep an eye on you. You're obviously disneighed. I mean…dismayed."

"You expect me to believe that?" The seadweller sneered, the light from his wand becoming more intense, "Kar wants my fuckin' head, I read the memo. He sent you to break my neck or somethin'." Eridan raised his wand, the tip lining up with the bridge of the blueblood's nose.

"Eridan, d-"

"I'm not goin' back." Eridan said through gritted teeth. "I killed Fef and Kan to get here, I'm not turnin' back now."

A piercing white light blinded Equius, shortly followed by an _intense, white-hot pain._

.

 _'Did...this place get darker?_ ' Tavros thought to himself as he gradually (very gradually) trekked down the stairs into the corridor he desperately hoped was the correct one. He could have sworn that more lights were working than this. Out of every ten wall lamps, only two were working properly. The other ones were either completely off or were flickering like you'd see in some slasher horror film. Yikes, he shouldn't think about slasher horror films right now, he was already scared out of his wits.

As the dusk surrounded him, Tavros decided that now was a good time to call upon his esteemed mental motivator, Rufio. Sure, there was a good chance he was just fake and the confidence he brought was just as fake, like Vriska constantly reminded him, but it would be nice to get his mind off anything that wasn't the eerie void ahead of him and the clanking of his robotic feet on metal floor.

So what would Rufio do in this situation? He would bravely storm into battle that's what he would do! …Yeah, Tavros wasn't completely sure he could do that. Hell, he didn't even know if this was a battle he was storming into! Gamzee sounded strange and out of character over Trollian, but not quite on the verge of hostility. Calling Karkat "swillblooded" was concerning and uncharacteristic, not to mention a pretty shitty slur to call your best friend, but it was still questionable as to whether or not the clown wanted to actually harm anyone.

Tavros definitely didn't want to harm anyone. Especially not Gamzee. He couldn't recall a single moment when he had gotten upset or angry with Gamzee, not truly. There were times he got a little irritated or bewildered when the clown started rambling about his strange religion, but he never got _mad_. Push comes to shove, Tavros wasn't sure if he could raise a hand to the highblood. Not out of fear of a higher caste, but out of fear that Gamzee might get hurt. He didn't want that.

The halls were certainly getting darker, he realized suddenly. Out of every ten lights, now five of them were completely shut off. As he processed this information, the bull nearly smacked himself face first into the fetid glass of a large test tube. He quickly took a few steps back and gazed up into the dimly lit green goo containing an enormous black and white hoofbeast-like creature. He had heard Equius raving about this creature, but he had yet to see it for himself until now. In slight awe, the troll slowly made his way past the tube, keeping his eyes glued to the dead but non-decaying flesh of the beast. No wonder Equius loved this thing; it looked just like those weird posters he taped all over his block.

 _Honk._

Tavros jumped, nearly tumbling backwards due to his legs being slow to respond. The sound was close but the structure of the room made the noise reverberate against the metal walls, leaving a clownish echo.

"Gamzee?" He called out. The sound of his own voice pushing against the heavy darkness filled him with unease.

No response.

He turned in a circle, attempting to squint through the shadows for any sign of a distressed clown. Damn… he should've brought a flashlight. There was nothing in this room but translucent tubes! Where would that noise come from? Unless-

He looked up.

Red eyes behind equally red glasses peered back at him from atop the container.

Tavros stepped back, realizing that there was nothing but air between them. Nothing but air between him and the sharp navy blue arrow Gamzee was aiming at him.


End file.
